The Federal Government’s decision to cancel the National Language Policy (NLP) and impose English as the sole medium of instruction at all levels of education is not merely an administrative choice. It is a profound error of judgment — one that threatens to derail early learning, deepen inequality, and accelerate the erosion of Nigeria’s cultural identity.
It must be reversed.
At the heart of this decision lies a troubling contradiction. The Minister of Education, Dr Morufu Olatunji Alausa, claims that students’ poor performance in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB is linked to the mother tongue instruction prescribed under the 2022 policy. Yet, he provides no credible evidence for this sweeping claim. Worse still, the logic collapses under basic scrutiny: mother tongue instruction in Nigeria ends at Primary Four, while the exams he cites are taken years later — after children have been taught in English for the majority of their schooling.
In effect, an unimplemented policy has been blamed for a national failure it did not cause.
Nigeria’s educational crisis is real. But to scapegoat the mother tongue is to dodge the harder questions: Why are basic education classrooms overcrowded? Why do millions of children lack textbooks? Why do teachers lack training and learning materials? Why are the poorest regions starved of funding? These are the real drivers of exam failure — and none will be solved by forcing a six-year-old to learn in a language she does not understand.
For decades, research has been unequivocal. From the Ife Six-Year Primary Project to the Rivers Readers’ Project, from UNESCO to countless Nigerian scholars, the evidence points in one direction: children learn faster, understand deeper, and perform better — even in English — when they begin their schooling in the language they speak at home.
This is not a radical position. It is a global best practice. Countries with some of the highest literacy rates — Finland, China, Japan — rely on early education in the mother tongue. Across Africa, nations as diverse as Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, and South Africa continue to strengthen indigenous language instruction, recognising its value for literacy, cohesion, and national pride.
To abandon this approach now is to move against the world — and against our own history.
More alarming is the cultural cost. Nigeria is one of the most linguistically diverse nations on earth. Our languages are not obstacles. They are repositories of memory, identity, and worldview. They carry the wisdom of communities and anchor our sense of belonging. To push them out of the classroom is to push them closer to extinction.
The Nigerian Academy of Education — the country’s most authoritative body of scholars and education leaders — has made a compelling case: the cancellation is hasty, unfounded, and damaging. Its task force urges the Minister to reverse the decision, recommit to mother tongue instruction through Primary Four, and finally invest in the materials, teacher training, and implementation frameworks that the previous policy lacked. It is a call grounded in evidence, patriotism, and common sense.
Nigeria’s education system is on the brink. Millions of children are out of school. Millions more are in school but not learning. The response can not be a retreat into linguistic insecurity or a misguided loyalty to English. True educational reform requires investment, planning, and continuity — not abrupt pivots driven by unverified assumptions.
The government owes Nigerians not just data but also accountability. The stakes are high: a nation that can not confidently teach its children in its own languages risks losing more than academic performance. It risks losing itself.
The Minister must reverse this cancellation. Nigeria’s children deserve an education rooted in understanding, not confusion. Our communities deserve a system that respects their voice. And the country deserves policies grounded in evidence, not fear.
We can still choose the path of progress — but only if we choose to listen to ourselves.
By Owen Raphael Daminabo
